Filing cabinet



Sept. 23, 1930. P. A. wETzEL.

' FILING CABINET Filed April 5,v 192s @HM/J6 Y it while the drawer isheld in the cabinet and l this type which is formed of sheet metal and'Patented Sept. 23, 1930 y UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PIETER A. WETZL,OF SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS f FILING CAixiNET Application flied April 5,1923,"fsm-iai No. eseguiti."`

The invention relates generally to filingcabinets and moreparticularlyto cabinets which are equipped with drawers of the typeinwhich the front is pivoted so that it will drop to provide convenientaccess to one end ,of aV stach of sheets or papers `in the draw-'V'Iheobjects of the invention aretol provide: ka tiling cabinet drawerof this typeV in which the bottom, sides and back are in-r` tegrallyformed of sheet inetal'and in which f the runners for supporting thedrawer in the cabinet y are integrally formed with the drawerV sides; adrawer of this type in which the runners are formed at the upper marginsof the drawer-sides; a'drawer ofthis type"` f in which the dropy frontis provided with means-for holding'it closed and supporting until it hasbeen withdrawn the desired eX- tent before releasing the front; a drawerof in which provision is made for stiffening the drawer-sides; adrawerof this type in which provision'is madefor preventing inwaii'dflexing of the front portions of the drawer sides" when the drop frontis closed; and an-v improved i'iling cabinet for drawers of said GI'S.

type yin which grooves areV formed 'in sheet metal plates Vfor therunners on the draw- The'invention consistsin the lseveral novelfeatures hereinafter set forth and more particularly A,defined .sionhereof. Y In the drawing Fig. 1 is a-plan of a filing cabinet drawer'embodying theinvention.

Fig. "2 is a ,side elevation. "Fig: 3 is a longitudinal section of racabinet, showing the ini-` proved drawer mounted therein. Fig; 4 is fralsection on line 4-4 of Fig. 1 upon an enlarged scale. I F ig; 5 is avsection on liiie'v' offFig.-1 on anenlarged scale. Fig. 6 is a ysectionon line 6-6 of Fig. 2. Fig. 7 is a section on line 77,-7'of Fig. l

The invention .is exemplified in al drawer comprising a bottom 6, back7: and sides l i v8, all of whichV are formedof, a ysingle blank of-slieetinetah suitably 'cut and bent, lapped joints being formed betweenbythe claiiii at the conclu-'` the back 4and sides, l'so the back Aofthe drawer will be,` substantially rigid. A front 9 is securedto'braclrets l0 which are pivoted by pivots vv11 adjacent the lowerinargin ofthe outerfaces of the drawer sides S, to periiiit'the front'tobe lowered or dropped "f into position indicated `by dotted llines in ywhen the drawer is withdrawn lfrom Fin. 3

theliciibinet. Pivots 11 pass through the drawer sides and-lugs 12 whichare secured y to thei drawer sides `by rivets 13. In dropn g vfront Ydrawers which are formed of sheet metal, the sides are not rigidly crosscon- `nected at the front and, consequently, there is considerableflexibility to them. This ileX- ibilityresults, not konly from thecircumstancethat the sides are lateralaround their lower corners, butalso thewerticall leixibility of the/bottom. To reduce undesirable flexibility,l the bottoin 6 is formed with 7 transverse corrugations 14which terminate o vsubstantially atthe corners betweenlthesides and thebottoin `and by stiifening the bottom,

r"thesecorrugations serve to lessen the transverse yflexibility of thesides. The corrugay tions are formed by indenting the sheet metalbottoindownwardly and it is' important that th ey extend `r,transverselyof-the bottoniA in order to perform their desired function. In order tosecure the front portions of the sides .l

- against inward movement, more particularly Ato prevent them4 yfromwarping inwardly while' they are iii the cabinet, tongues l5,

which may be struck upfiointhe inetal forining brackets 10,aiepi'ovidedto' i'eceivefthe Ifrontedges of the drawer sides 8, so thatthe wall 19, extending longitudinally of the draw# 1 er. These runnersare adapted to slide in grooves 2O in'a cabinet 21 which may be adaptedto hold any desired number of drawers. The grooves 2O are formed insheet metal inyner side walls 22which are suitably secured in outermetal Walls 23. A characteristic of this cabinet is that thek walls22are bent to form the grooves 20. i

To cause the drop front to be supported by the bottoms of grooves 20,thebrackets l0 are formed with an out-turned flange 24,

which, when thedrawer is pulled out away from the cabinet, will bereleased to permit the front to swing downwardly to give access to thepapers in the drawer.V The lower wall 19 terminates adjacenttherearo-iiange 24 and the top wall 17 of each runner is extended, v

as at 25, over the iange 24.

The invention exemplifies a filing cabinet"Y i il in which a drawer witha drop front is formedA y of sheet metal with runners integrally formedy thereon in which provision is made for avoid- Y ingundesirable'flexibility of the, sides; in I. f Ywhich the sides arelocked at their front'ends f against inward movement, while the. dropfront is closed, and in which the runners are formed atthefupperimargins of the drawers,

Y and in which the brackets of the drop lfront are provided with meansYheld in the'cabinetf to keep the drop front closed',iand in whichthetiling cabinet is provided with grooved sheet metal'walls for therunners on the drawv y l fmay bemodified within the scopeof theap-lpended claim, without departing from the l The invention is not to beunderstood as I i restricted to the details set forth, since thesespirit and scope of the invention. Y f

Y Having thus described the inventiom what p `I claim as new and desireto secure by/'Letters Patent, is: 1 f

' A liling cabinet drawer comprising -abottom-,back and sides,runnersprojecting outi A wardly from the upper -marginsof-said sides andadapted to slide in groovesin the cabinet, f

- said `runners comprising' upperv and' lowerA walls, the frontendsjof'the upper'walls eX- tending 'beyond the lower walls, a dropVfront pivoted tothe sides, and flanges on theffront adapted'to underliesaid extendedl front vends of t-he upper walls and form continuations ofthe lower walls to supportz the drop front,

when the Vdrawer is in the cabinet.y c

SignedL at Chicago, Illinois this-26th day of; 'i

January, 1923. y i

Y' n' PETER A. VVETZEL.

